AGEOD Civil war 2 battle planner

[mikeck]

The Union had simply not adopted the corps structure yet. Didnt seem needed until into 1862 when the army sizes dictated it.

Jason, what don't you like about the territories divisions? Seems like the Sam as ACW1 although I can't say for sure

[JudgeDredd]

I NEVER EVER played AACW - I fired it up a few times, went through a few turns - but never stuck at it...and yet I've just bought this.

Good money after bad.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!

When will I learn?!  ???

[W8taminute]

^What was it about the first game that didn't grab you?

[tgb]

The tutorial does mention that you can't form Divisions in 1861, and in fact have to wait for the event to appear before you can.

[JudgeDredd]

Didn't know what I was doing.

I love ACW - reading about it, watching programs about it - but when it came to that game, I just didn't get it. To be honest, I'm not totally convinced I gave it a fair try...so I'm not blaming the game here.

[W8taminute]

Those are valid reasons Judge.  It's interesting because for me I was able to learn the mechanics of ACW after about two weeks of farting around with it.  I can't say the same thing for the other AGEOD games I have purchased and I can't put a finger on it. 

I do remember though that the AGEOD and Matrix forums had one or two guys that posted some excellent step by step guides on how to play ACW but I never found anything for games like Birth of America 2 or Alea Iacta Est. 

[Toonces]

That game looks really nice.

[JudgeDredd]

Ok - clearly my current "bee in my bonnet" is DRM

So if Matrix is the shining light with DRM (which I had always taken them to be) - why did I have to enter my key into the installer and then get asked for it again when running the game? Not a huge deal - but not the norm for Matrix Games.

[JasonPratt]

Jason, what don't you like about the territories divisions? Seems like the Sam as ACW1 although I can't say for sure

Don't like the way they look on the map, too vaguely defined in the screenshots above.

I haven't played ACW1, but other AGEOD games seem to have clearer territory division than what I see above. Heck, even ACW2's naval territories are more clearly marked for immediate understanding, although the divisions don't seem to make as much sense. I feel reasonably sure that it takes more time to sail down, around and back up the southern tip of Florida than to sail down the coastline of one of the Bahama islands nearby.

[JudgeDredd]

One of the options to set is Mouse Cursor - Hardware or Software

Anyone know wth the difference is?

[Nefaro]

That game looks really nice.

You even like that bright silver UI background?  It looks jarringly out of place.

This thing is fugly, other than the unit & general art.  The latter look wonderful, but most everything else is a couple steps back.  I always thought the extra art fluff was an AGEOD hallmark.  The sterile environment I'm seeing in ACW2 is making me realize how much all those extra embellishments had previously added to the experience for me.  Even if it's just some stylized parchment, marble, or leather style background art behind such info windows.

I can also see Jason's point about the map locations not standing out too well.  The borders don't exactly stand out as much as other AGE titles, at least in the swampy areas, so I'm wondering just how much I would have to stop and actively concentrate on figuring out where provinces are, under all the units on top of them.   It may be more of a problem being zoomed further out.

It sounds like they've improved some of the gameplay features, so that alone may convince me to get it at some point.  But the general art direction is disappointing.  It looks as if art expenses were cut and some basic default windows graphics were used in their stead.  :'(

[mikeck]

What it certainly not a budget issue because those extra fluff things are so simple to add.  I get the impression from the forums that it was an attempt to make everything look more streamlined and less complex. I love the map and I don't mind the UI at all the only thing that drives me nuts are the little town icons with the waving flags. looks like something from Sid Meier's Antietum

[Nefaro]

What it certainly not a budget issue because those extra fluff things are so simple to add.  I get the impression from the forums that it was an attempt to make everything look more streamlined and less complex. I love the map and I don't mind the UI at all the only thing that drives me nuts are the little town icons with the waving flags. looks like something from Sid Meier's Antietum

They may be simple to add, but they still have to pay an artist to do some actual artwork instead of dropping some generic Windows stuff in.  Looks like they skimped on an artist, in this case.   Pure speculation on my part, but that's the impression I get when I look at it's blandness.

[bbmike]

What it certainly not a budget issue because those extra fluff things are so simple to add.  I get the impression from the forums that it was an attempt to make everything look more streamlined and less complex. I love the map and I don't mind the UI at all the only thing that drives me nuts are the little town icons with the waving flags. looks like something from Sid Meier's Antietum

They may be simple to add, but they still have to pay an artist to do some actual artwork instead of dropping some generic Windows stuff in.  Looks like they skimped on an artist, in this case.   Pure speculation on my part, but that's the impression I get when I look at it's blandness.

Didn't I see a post earlier where AGEOD said they hired an artist to work on this game? I doubt it's a case of skimping.

[Nefaro]

What it certainly not a budget issue because those extra fluff things are so simple to add.  I get the impression from the forums that it was an attempt to make everything look more streamlined and less complex. I love the map and I don't mind the UI at all the only thing that drives me nuts are the little town icons with the waving flags. looks like something from Sid Meier's Antietum

They may be simple to add, but they still have to pay an artist to do some actual artwork instead of dropping some generic Windows stuff in.  Looks like they skimped on an artist, in this case.   Pure speculation on my part, but that's the impression I get when I look at it's blandness.

Didn't I see a post earlier where AGEOD said they hired an artist to work on this game? I doubt it's a case of skimping.

They hired a new artist to do the new Unit & General artwork that looks so good.  They always hire an artist to do that.. another for the map, etc.  Not sure who used to do all the extra windows & fluff but whomever did it probably didn't do so for free.

There is obviously some categories that didn't get it this time around.